In 1959 Malta took part in the Rome Olympics tournament.
During summer, team manager Victor Vassallo and national coach Joe Griffiths assembled a group of promising youngsters and a handful of seasoned amateur players to form the basis of the National Amateur XI.
When the draws were made, Malta was paired with Morocco and Tunisia. The inclusion of Malta in the African group was received with mixed feelings. Many questioned FIFA’s decision to group Malta with African states.
The MFA, however, felt that Malta stood a better chance of qualifying from an African group than Europe, so, it did not contest the decision.
After all, Malta was still not a member of FIFA and, although correspondence between the two bodies was exchanged on the subject, Malta’s affiliation was only confirmed during a FIFA congress in Rome in August, 1960.
Malta’s first match of the qualifying group was played on November 1, 1959.
The Empire Stadium looked its best for the occasion as the two teams filed out of the dressing rooms led by international referee Peter Kroner, of Romania.
The match kicked off amid the shouts of encouragement of the thousands of Maltese supporters. The shouts, however, were soon changed to cries of disappointment as the Tunisians forced the Maltese defence to work overtime.
The locals were hopelessly outplayed but somehow they held on to a 0-0 draw.
Malta fared much better against Morocco a week later. Showing rare grid and determination, they took a 2-0 lead by half-time.
In the second half, however, the Africans seemed to find their feet and goals by Bechekroun and Baba gave them a merited point.
The return matches were played the following month.
A 2-0 defeat against Tunisia on December 6 dashed Malta’s hopes of playing in the Rome Games.
The qualifier was played in a rainstorm. The Maltese felt that it should have been abandoned but this was certainly no excuse for the team’s poor performance. The truth was that the Africans had made a giant step forward.
Gone were the days when our teams could go on tour to the Black Continent and return home laden with the spoils of victory.
On December 13, 1959, Malta met Morocco at the newly-built Marcel Cedar Stadium in Casa-blanca. Before the start of the game, the two teams were presented to the Moroccan Crown Prince, Ali Mohammed. An avid football enthusiast, the Prince worked hard to establish the game in his country.
The adverse result against Tunisia did not seem to dampen the spirit of the Maltese and in Casablanca they played perhaps, the best football of the tournament.
Morocco enjoyed the best of the exchanges in the first half. They drew first blood through Mustapha Moulay after only 13 minutes but on the half-hour Dalli intercepted a pass from Chircop to equalise.
Then, disaster struck the Maltese team. Only three minutes were left for half-time when Frankie Zammit passed back to goalkeeper Freddie Mizzi to clear upfield.
It seemed to be quite an easy task for the young goalkeeper but Mizzi must have lost his concentration.
Somehow he stabbed his toes in the ground and the ball flew to Moulay who had no difficulty to shoot into an empty net.
In the second half, Malta made a great effort to save the game. Charlie Chircop almost scored the equaliser and Sammy Nicholl was about to score when he was judged offside.
The Maltese continued to push forward and for a while they had the hosts defending grimly.
Then, in a rare Moroccan counter-attack, the Maltese defence panicked and the Africans were awarded a penalty.
Mizzi, however, made up for his earlier lapse with a superb save.
His heroics seemed to inspire the team and for the rest of the game they had the Moroccans with their backs to the wall. Time and again the Maltese seemed to be about to score but somehow the ball was always cleared in time.
The final whistle found the Afri-cans still leading 2-1 but there was no glory in their victory. The Maltese won all the honours and they fully deserved the standing ovation of the crowd as they left the ground with their heads held high.